But something not so funny happened on the way to selling out the forum -- the band broke up. Red Octane was bought by Activision, who was unable to keep independent developer Harmonix from stage diving into the waiting arms of MTV. To say that millions of Guitar Hero fans were worried would be putting it mildly. Without its lead songwriter, what would become of their new favorite group?

A lot, actually. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has been slung over the solid shoulder of Tony Hawk developer Neversoft, a team that certainly knows a thing or two about sequels. With the third iteration spanning the PS2, Xbox 360, PS3 and -- gasp -- Wii, they've got plenty of new stages for their upcoming rock god to conquer.

And this time, the six-stringed deity assumes human form as that bushy-haired snake charmer, Slash; the Velvet Revolver axeman just recently signed on as the road-tested face of the franchise. A self-professed fan of the series, he's also provided a ton of music for the game and will even appear as an end-level Boss character for players to duel against. While the specifics are still a little murky, you can find out more about his involvement in our exclusive producer interview.

Even if you don't burn frets like the ex-Guns 'N Roses guitarist, you'll be able to shred away the night courtesy of the game's intuitive mechanics. Though it's the third game in the series, Guitar Hero III doesn't stray far from its original recipe; other than some fresh graphical upgrades, it's intent on keeping its fans happily strumming along as they once again follow familiar colored notes blazing down a virtual fretboard.

In Fall 2006, rumors began to fly about on a Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II. The original Kingdom Hearts had a Final Mix version of itself, adding new enemies, scenes, battles and weapons to the mix. This version was never released outside of Japan. The reason being was that others countries had received the game with additions to it, so Square-Enix (Square Soft at the time) treated the Japenese fans with a better version of the game. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix has yet, and will likely never, reach stateside.

On September 20, 2006, we finally had received some confirmation on Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ by V-Jump Magazine. However, Nomura had an extra surprise in for his fans, a completely remade version of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. The magazine revealed some exciting new content and images that were said to be added to the game. The magazine stated that the game will feature full English Voice Acting, more scenes regarding Namine and new stories developing deeper into Organization XIII.

Wouldn't you know it, Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2006 was right around the corner. We got more tidbits of information and some beautifully done artwork on Final Mix+ and Re: Chain of Memories. The show promised that more scenes with Roxas would be added to the mix, that and promising more interaction with Roxas and Axel, showing their friendship. The enemies will be in different colors like they were in the original Final Mix. Re: Chain of Memories was told to be sold together with Final Mix+, which excited many fans. What everyone wanted to know, yet wasn't revealed, was will this be reaching Europe and the U.S.?

Could we possibly ask for a better remake? Well no, because Square just could not stop delivering. In one of the last interviews for the month of september, we learned that the original Kingdom Hearts team would be returning to give Kingdom Hearts II another go. Now square was planning on raising the difficulty. Additional Organization XIII battles would be fought, an entirely new enemy stronger than Sephiroth was added and a new difficulty level was going to be introduced. New drive forms, new enemies, what could be better?

The month of September was indeed a good month for Kingdom Hearts II. On the very last day of the month, more scans arrived. It was strongly hinted in the new article that the Roxa's battle would indeed be playable this time around. Most of the new cutscenes are of Roxas but that doesn't mean you get more playtime as him. Also, new areas and maps would be added to worlds, making you have to make good use of all your abilities to reach them. Some new unnamed reaction commands have appeared, along with Nomura's personal favorite heartless. The secret movie at the end of Kingdom Hearts II has been completely remade, so no new scenes just added on at the end. But the requirements for getting this secret ending were undecided, so you may not have to go through the grueling process of completing Jiminy's Journal.

In early November, Dengeki Magazine revealed more upcoming information on the title. The Re: Chain of Memories disc was to be seperate from the Final Mix+ disc. "Search" mini-games like the trinity marks from Kingdom Hearts will return for Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix. Since many people complained on how easy the game was, Nomura increased the difficulty. So just how can they fit so much into KH2:FM? After the North American release of KH2, they were able to delete any unneccessary data, freeing up space for the new things. This was about the only important information brought up in the month of November.

Mid-way through December we received more scans showing off Sora's new look, appropriate for the month no?. It seems that when Sora enters Christmas Town, he dawns a new outfit. The outfit resembles the one of Sandy Claws, except much less colorful. As for Nomura's favorite heartless mentioned earlier, the Mushroom type heartless make a return. An odd quirk to the old enemies was the fact that their costumes resembled that of the Organizations. Speaking of the Organization XIII, a fight between No. 11 Marluxia has been rumored to be taking place in Final Mix and Chain of Memories. And last, but not least, confirmation of new keyblades being added.

A trailer was shown at Jump Fiesta and we got the translations and description of the whole thing. In possibly a memory, Xemnas walks to Roxas in Twilight Town and shines the words Sora over his face. As the letters spin around him, they eventually stop and spell out Roxas. Roxas' tough new battle also had its own special preview. Reaction commands were said to be plentyful and Roxas could also shoot balls of light from afar. Roxas displayed some simlar moves and attacks as Sora.

We got more insight on the rumored new form which had the ability Ragnarok, which also still had "Shot, Impact, and Gigaimpact" reaction commands. Disney characters were reported to be able to venture out from their own worlds. New maps of Hollow Bastions and Castle Oblivion were told to be shoved into the trailer. One of the more interesting things in the trailer was that you can fight Marluxia and Lexaeus. Another interesting note was the armored man in the secret trailer was seen with Xemnas, with Xemnas refering to him as 'friend'.

One of the biggest scoops of 2007 was only just a few days into it. A scan was revealed showing off Sora's new form. The form was Sora's old clothes, seemingly revamped. The torso remained the same, but his shorts were bigger and had insignias on it. The main reason why this form was created was so Nomura could give his fans a little old school. Ragnarok, Dodgeroll, Ars Arcanum were the abilities showed off and they seemed to stay true to the original Kingdom Hearts moves. Dodgeroll is now an offensive and defensive move. The new form has been dubbed 'Limit Form'.

As if the new form wasn't enough to excite you, a scan also revealed the Marluxia and Lexaeus battle. Lexaeus' battle had some point system, which has yet to be properly explained. Marluxia's battle was supposed to be tricky. A reaction command involves Sora stealing Marluxia's scythe and hurling it back from where it came. Very similar to the battle shown in the Kingdom Hearts II opening.

Deeper into this year, more surprising weapons were introduced. Donald would end up using the tomahawk that Lexaeus wields in his battle with Sora, but the tomahawk seems to be much smaller in ****and primarily used as a magical weapon not a physical one. Goofy's newest weapon was the very shield that Vexen wields. So is Vexen going to be fightable? No doubt these weapons will be very powerful, but there is no telling how they will measure up to Save the Queen and King weapons that the two have. Sora's weapon didn't seem to be one directly taken from an Organization member, but just another keyblade. The keyblade is obtained when defeating an Organization Mushroom. The special search option mentioned earlier seems to be a crown search, which helps open up some new areas.

More Organization battle information. The battles with the Organization members take place in enclosed areas, which are located near previously visted areas. I'm assuming that means you venture into an area not possible before. Marluxia will use more speed tactics against Sora, which includes a Nobody symbol appearing in front of him, while Marluxia appears right above his head. The Lexaeus battle will play similar to how you fought Luxord (point wise). Lexaeus will be able to generate force fields and his health is much higher than Soras.

Up to now we only know of a battle against two of our former buddies from Chain of Memories. A newer scan showed us scenes from a battle with all the members from Chain of Memories. That's right, Larxene, Vexen and even Zexion. But of course, everyone's focus goes on the Zexion battle. Mainly because his weapon is finally revealed, which just so happens to be a book. Nomura has stated that Zexion's weapon is a spoiler, so you can asume that the content inside the book should be very important to the series. Vexen's battle includes him making copies of Sora, similar to Riku Replica. Larxene has super speed, and low health, but the battle has been said to be very difficult. Zexion's battle takes place in a book, where Zexion can also trap Sora and co. in his pages. Sephiroth has been said to be weaker then the new battles with the old members. However there is still a boss out there stronger than Organization XIII that hasn't been revealed yet.

There are also 13 types of Organization Mushroom Heartless. The numbers inscribed in the back of those heartless means that they correspond with that numbered Organization member. The mushrooms also have the special abilties from the member that they represent. There is a special reward for killing all XIII Organization Members throughout the game. Whether or not this is the keyblade mentioned earlier has yet to be decided. The Organization XIII Mushroom fighting can be considered a mini game in a way. It is not exactly difficult, but the player needs to find out different ways to defeat each one.

Two new abilities: Round Break and Magnet Splash have been revealed, along with an Axel battle. The Axel battle might have Sora at critical health throughout the whole battle, but it's unconfirmed. Make no mistake though, this isn't a Roxas vs. Axel battle but one featuring Sora vs. Axel. As for Roxas, his battle is said to give you a new keyblade upon beating him. The keyblade he gives you sparks off nobody symbols when attacking. A new quest in Kingdom Hearts 2 is to collect crowns scattered across all worlds. It is unknown exactly how many crowns there are in each world, but there is a lot. This will be another thing needed to complete your Journal.

That is all for now, expect the release of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories release in Japan in the Spring. As for others countries: there are rumors of a fall release for the US, but nothing can be confirmed until we get some news from Square-Enix themselves. Here's to hoping, expect this section to grow more as time goes by.

Last Boxing Day (that's the day after Xmas for those who don't have one) I was in a local bar with three of my friends. I don't smoke myself, but the others all did and one of them, Porky, showed us this bar game. You take a box of matches and pierce the top of it with one unlit match, so that this match sticks vertically up out of the top (i.e. the only side that doesn't have contact with the drawer underneath so that it can still open and close). The challange is to take the box in your hand and with just that one hand open the box, take out a match, light it and then light the match on top with the match you have just struck.

Turned out the hardest bit was getting the match struck with enough force to ignite it but not so much that it carries on and you burn yourself in the palm of the hand (try it and you'll see what I mean!). So me, Porky and one of the other guys had been sitting trying this for about fifteen minutes but mostly kept burning ourselves. Then Toomba, the guy who up to this point had just been watching, decided he would have a go. We were happy to sit back and nurse our burns while he took a blast at it. So, he takes the box in his hand and pokes it open with a finger. He then takes a match out WITH HIS OTHER HAND and procedes to do it and then gloat at his "success" assuming our astonished faces were because his genius brain had cracked it - ignore the "do it with one hand" bit!